The Battalion 6- It nday • June 8,1998 PINION l-for-6) ; a vear tl slopp on ll Jed tb |uring; dowi andu Ideo ■ price, lat n p ^P6EDDaf //, Hi & S*! pence nliY 1st Immigration requires assimilation Chris Hujjtnes is a sophomore speech communications major. the Mexican firemen by not writing without knowledge and research. Ricardo Thierry Ph. D. Student Editor’s Note: The headline- 1 Ameri cans take responsibilityfor fires in Mexico” may have been misleading. Paddack would summarize his col umn by saying a majority of the fires were started by political propaganda. M Alison Lackey columnist T he Ellis Island generation trav eled to America to become part of something. This was done not only to better their lives economi cally, socially or politically, but to pas sionately con tribute of themselves in an American setting. Traveling from Italy, my great-grandfa ther settled in New York, where he eventually ob tained an American business part ner. This partner would finance my great gr andfather’s grocery store and collect 50 percent. Once it was time to post store signs, great-granddad offered the family surname, Casmiri, as the name of their grocery. His business partner objected and urged him to “Americanize” his name and label the store Cashmer’s grocery. He reluctantly performed this “Americanization.” He did this with out losing his heritage and cultural value. His desire to become part of America pushed him from reluc tance to inclination. He carefully ab sorbed American principles and the English language. Words were not cause of a disintegration of his Ital ian heritage. Today is different—contribution to the American setting is different. Some people adamantly feel that their heritage and culture is lost in the mongrel abyss of America. Immigrants travel to the United States for numerous reasons; howev er, it is a known fact that many im migrants come here solely searching for employment and an improved economic status. Many times, for immigrants, collecting the benefits of health care, social services and ed ucation is an unattainable goal. Bilingual education stimulated much discussion. In states with high immigrant populations such as Texas and California. In California, 1.4 million students statewide have limited English profi ciency. Many newly-naturalized American citizens have ignored the hinge of English in our American public education systems and cru saded for bilingual education. The American setting is shadowed; the apple pie has spoiled. Bilingual education, the realm with which many American public schools have been operating to edu cate non-English speaking students, may very well have lost its wide spread appeal. Ron Unz, pioneer of Proposition 227, pleasanffy watched California voters authorize the proposal in last Tuesday’s primary. After all, we do speak English in this country. It is not established as the national language; however, the Constitution is written in English. In the Proposition 227 vote, it is undeniable to mention that a large portion of the 60 percent vic tory were Hispanic citizens. Extinguishing the fires of bilin gual education could set a blaze through many other states, such as Texas, New York and Florida that are swollen with immigrants. The surg ing of immigrants, the kaleidoscope of cultures, must assimilate to the task of learning English and benefit from an English education in our public school systems. However, it is understandable that the public primary and sec ondary education system is already lacking funds to teach classes in English. We do not have the re sources to hire several Croatian math teachers or Korean social stud ies teachers for numerous school districts in Texas. With the current vi olence in schools and piss poor salary offerings to match, some pub lic schools are steadily entering the crap zone. Attracting teachers has become a problem, especially to a specific set of teachers who speak various languages. We must focus on improving the watered-down education system in English and create a system that stimulates non-English speaking students to learn in English, so that it is the responsibility of every citizen to take advantage of and value a state provided education. Prosperity would increase. Indi viduals with mastery of more than one language are realizing increased value in the job market. These days the doors are opening up wide as for college grads. My Spanish and Ger man course work has been more than just fulfillment of a require ment. Culturally-enhanced classes have significantly contributed to my college education. But, it is not oppressive to learn the language of your country and re ceive education in that language. If an American were to seek a new life in another country, it would also be their responsibility to assimilate. They would be benefiting from their new country, culturally, socially and economically. Therefore, they must respect the country, and shift their lives around their new language. It would be their duty to do this, as well as it is immigrants’ duty to pursue American education in English. Allison Lackey is a senior English major.